GNU/Linux Software Hall of Fame

[jeh-vin]

spotifydl is clear of everything else in my humble opinion. This utility/software saved me some big bucks I wasn't willing to spend. And then there's Krita which I use to draw a lot.

When Linux distributions are concerned, my top two for now are LMDE and Arch. The former is Linux Mint with a Debian base, updated only after the next release, medium bloat. And the latter, is just - based.

[sunrat]

1 hour ago, linux screwed me up sadly said:

spotifydl is clear of everything else in my humble opinion.

 

Sorry to cast aspersions when you have just joined here, but it appears this parses a spotify playlist, downloads it from YouTube which default format is lossy Ogg Opus, and then converts it to mp3. As someones who cares a lot about audio quality, I have to say converting from a lossy format to another lossy format is sacrilege. You'd be much better to download the audio files directly from YouTube and keep them as Ogg Opus which is a vastly better and more modern format than mp3, and supported natively in Linux and Android.

 

Welcome to Scot's BTW. You'll find a lot of good info, facts, and help here, only slightly clouded by opinions unlike much of the internet.

[abarbarian]

get_iplayer: BBC iPlayer/BBC Sounds Indexing Tool and PVR

 

If you are a BBC licence holder then this is a great tool for downloading stuff you missed.

 

So far I have only tried it for programs from the radio. Downloaded single episodes and ten episodes at a time and the program coped with the tasks very well..

if you peruse the wiki or guides you can set a custom folder to download to for every series of a broadcast or you can set a custom default folder which is what I have done. I do not think I will use the PVR facility as I tend to download complete series after they have aired.

You can also set the program to convert radio broadcasts to .mp3 at various bitrates as a default action. This I have also done as I will be listening to stuff on my car radio through its .mp3 facility whilst driving with no passengers.

 

This is the first program I tested get_iplayer on,

 

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

 

an I have downloaded this for my great niece as she is nearly nine,

 

Once Upon a Time in Zombieville

 

Naturally I will have to check out all four series to make sure that thy are suitable for her.

 

get_iplayer Installation

 

Linux/BSD package installation

 

I used the DEBIAN  package from the above link on my MX-21 laptop and will try out the AUR offering later on on my main pc. The DEBIAN package installed all the extra stuff aswell so it was a quick and painless install.

 

Tutorials -- well worth a look, lots of handy tips etc.

 

Enjoy folks.

 

Just realised that I did all the above whilst my VPN was set to the USA. Not really a problem as I do have a BBC licence.

 

An update is here

 

https://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?/topic/96543-gnulinux-software-hall-of-fame/&do=findComment&comment=481939

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by abarbarian

[securitybreach]

I didn't know that you paid for a license to see BBC. Of course, I haven't had cable in over 15 years now.

[securitybreach]

The TV licence is a flat fee of

£159 a year (£53.50 for black and white TV sets).

 

Don't they also make money on the ads like other tv channels? https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-51376255

 

Sorry to get off topic, just curious.

[abarbarian]

37 minutes ago, securitybreach said:

 

 

 

Don't they also make money on the ads like other tv channels? https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-51376255

 

Sorry to get off topic, just curious.

 

Television licensing in the United Kingdom

 

The BBC is funded entirely by licence fees which allows it to be independent of government interference and thus an impartial source of news and reporting. It does not have any paid adverts at all for the same reason. The only adverts on the BBC are for BBC programs.

The BBC does have a commercial arm where it sells programs worldwide such as  Dr Who for instance.

Originally broadcast over the air the BBC now has an internet presence. First we had one BBC channel, then BBC and ITV, followed by BBC 1 and 2 and ITV, then BBC1 and 2 and ITV and Channel4. Now we have a lot of Regional BBC channels plus the main four BBC channels and there are over 400 independent privately funded channels available over here.

 

This list of linear television channels in the United Kingdom refers to television in the United Kingdom which is available from digital terrestrial, satellite, cable, and IPTV providers, with an estimated more than 480 channels

 

 

[securitybreach]

Ah ok, that makes more  sense then

[abarbarian]

On 3/12/2020 at 9:16 PM, sunrat said:

 

I find MPV to be more reliable and less buggy, and it sometimes plays files VLC refuses. There is a simple frontend for it I just found recently called Celluloid which is basic but neat.

I still have VLC installed though, mainly for its ability to loop a section of video if you show the Advanced controls bar. It did freeze up completely on me the other day and I had to killall -9 vlc as I couldn't stop it any other way.

 

https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/wiki/User-Scripts

 

Have you tried any of the scripts you can add to mpv ?

 

I use,

 

https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/TOOLS/lua/autoload.lua  Fab as it plays the next video so you do not have to do anything, also means you do not disturb the cat sitting on your lap.

 

history-bookmark.lua    This is great for when you have a series to watch and you can not remember which episode you last watched.

 

https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/TOOLS/lua/autocrop.lua useful for old 4:3 videos makes them a full fit on a widescreen, does it nicely too.  Works but I changed to boxtowide.

 

https://github.com/Samillion/mpv-boxtowide trialling this as an alternative to the above.

 

Edited August 26, 2022 by abarbarian

[securitybreach]

I just use shift+a to cycle through the aspect ratios. I have not used user-scripts for MPV and didn't even know that they existed. I could see where the next episode one could be useful but can you toggle it on and off as it would work for a tv series but not a folder full of movies.

[abarbarian]

14 hours ago, securitybreach said:

I could see where the next episode one could be useful but can you toggle it on and off

 

Not sure if you can switch it on and of. I find it really useful for me anime series. I have a folder for movies but I keep each film in its own folder inside that, not sure why maybe because of the way I collected them. Possibly because I need to keep subtitles in with the film.

I never even knew about "shift+a" guess I should RTFM more often.

[abarbarian]

Excellent Utilities: croc – securely transfer files and folders

I read about this utility a while ago and it appeared recently in the above article. I am posting a link to it as the site is very good for finding information about all sorts of linux friendly software. 

They usually present information in this format which I find neat and useful.

Quote

Pages in this article:
Page 1 – Introduction / Installation
Page 2 – In Operation
Page 3 – Summary

 

Back in croc land here is a more in depth look at croc,

 

Securely Transfer Files and Folders Between Computers Using Croc

 

Quote

Croc is a free and open-source command line tool that allows any two computers to simply and securely transfer files and folders using code phrases.

"Croc is a file transfer system that sends files securely using end-to-end encryption, via a file transfer relay. If you are curious about the name, it is inspired by the fable of the frog and the crocodile. The Croc key advantages are speed, security, and simplicity, all-in-one. Transferring data using Croc is faster, because it acts as a relay server between the systems. It creates a full-duplex real-time communication layer between the two computers, so the “uploading” and “downloading” tasks occur simultaneously between those computers.

Croc is a cross-platform tool. It is written in GO programming language and freely available under MIT license. You can install it on Linux, Mac, Windows, and Android, and securely transfer files between them. Croc does not only work in same LAN but on any two computers connected to the internet."

 

Article with Windows info

 

Quote

Worried that this is a command line tool, and that it's hard to use by an inexperienced user on Microsoft Windows? It's not. A Windows user can simply download the Windows binary, extract it, then double-click the croc.exe executable, and a console window will pop up, asking the user to enter the receive code:

 

This is the developers blog where he explains more about croc,

 

File transfer between any computers

 

Quote

I created yet another way to transfer files that strikes a good balance between speed, security or simplicity by using relay-assisted peer-to-peer transactions and end-to-end encryption via password-authenticated key exchange.

There are a lot of ways to transfer files.

 

His GitHub page.

 

I installed croc on my old MX-21 powered ToughBook and my speedy Arch rig. Both installs were quick and painless.

 

As I have Keepassxc installed on both pc's and I had made some changes to the TB one I tried out croc by transferring the Keepass Data folder from the TB to Arch wirelessly from the kitchen to the living room. It is only a small folder and the transfer was super quick. As I had not fully RTFM, who does, I was surprised when croc asked me if I wanted to replace several files. I accepted the replacements and after the transfer I checked that both copies of the Data folder were the same, which they were. After a quick read I found that if you had a terminal open on both pc's, I had a terminal open in HOME on both pc's, and you transfer a folder which resides in the same location on both pc's, which the Data folder did, then croc will replace the folder or file on the receiving pc.

Just a point to be aware of.

Next I did a transfer of a 2.2GB folder containing loads of X Minus One sci fi radio episodes from the TB to the Arch. I only had this folder initially on the TB. The speed of the transfer was pretty darn fast. An just to see I sent a similar sized folder from Arch to the TB and had the same speedy transfer.

To make things simpler I set croc to use a customised code for the transfer rather than use the croc generated one.

 

#Croc with customised transfer --code

$ croc send --code abarbarian KeePassDataBase
Sending 'KeePasss2018Feb.kdbx' (36.6 kB)
Code is: abarbarian
On the other computer run

croc abarbarian

#Croc using the built in transfer code

$ croc send KeePassDataBase
Sending 'KeePasss2018Feb.kdbx' (36.6 kB)
Code is: 1185-answer-summer-salute
On the other computer run

croc 1185-answer-summer-salute

 

You can see the difference one is much simpler than the other.

 

So for me I think this will be quite a useful tool as I will be transferring anime series from Arch to the TB. Also I will be transferring stuff from the TB to Arch as I am using the TB more now I have it set up in the kitchen. It is nice to look up and out of the kitchen window at the river and fields every now and again, also the TB uses a lot less lecy and is cheaper to run.

 

If anyone fancies trying croc out to transfer something over the internet give me a pm and we can have a go.

Edited July 18, 2022 by abarbarian

[abarbarian]

Remind: The Ultimate Personal Calendar

 

Quote

Remind is a calendar and reminder program for Linux and most UNIX Systems. I started writing Remind in 1989 because I was fed up with the limitations of the UNIX calendar program. In the last ten years, it has accreted features and has become one of the most sophisticated calendar programs I've seen. I'd like to take you on a journey through the history of Remind, demonstrating some of the features which lead me to immodestly call it the “Ultimate Personal Calendar”.

 

Remind

 

Quote

Remind is a sophisticated calendar and alarm program. It includes the following features:

• A sophisticated scripting language and intelligent handling of exceptions and holidays.
• Plain-text, PDF, PostScript and HTML output.
• Timed reminders and pop-up alarms.
• A friendly graphical front-end for people who don't want to learn the scripting language.
• Facilities for both the Gregorian and Hebrew calendars.
• Support for 12 different languages.

 

Remind FAQ

 

Quote

Why would I want to use Remind?

• Remind is very fast and lightweight in comparison to typical GUI calendar programs.
• Remind can handle rather complicated recurring reminders, which are beyond the capability of most calendar applications.
• Remind can interact well with other programs. You can quickly add reminders from the terminal, with Quicksilver, or with a homebrewed Python script; you can schedule applications to execute through Remind; you can display Remind's output through an external application, or even read off your reminders with a text-to-speech program.
• If you have any programming experience, then the idea of using a scripting language to describe a calendar may seem very natural to you.

 

remind(1) - Linux man page

 

tkremind(1) - Linux man page

 

Quote

TkRemind is a graphical front-end to the Remind program. It provides a friendly graphical interface which allows you to view your calendar and add reminders without learning the syntax of Remind. Although not all of Remind's features are available with TkRemind, TkRemind gives you an opportunity to edit the reminder commands which it creates. This allows you to learn Remind's syntax and then add extra features as you become a more sophisticated Remind programmer.

 

The man pages are an excellent source for help with using the program.

 

Further Information on the Wiki

 

Mike Harris looks at "Remind"

 

Quote

Roaring Penguin is currently the caretaker of an open source project that has, in one form or another, been around since 1988, called Remind. Remind is a Unix-driven calendaring program of great flexibility and power, but, better yet, for the most part, it works with the command line and with plain text. With the deliciousness of Mac OS X, though, you can integrate it into your background processes and GUI with very little effort and splash.

 

Remind – The Perfect Calendar For Linux April 15, 2021 by Lloyd Byron

 

Quote

The remind app, since it is written in remind (the programming language), is typically run in a text/code editor like vim, nano, or emacs or the Linux terminal. Remind code for calendar events can be entered into the editor of your choice, then these lines of code are saved to a file with a .rem extension and when scanned create the calendar in the terminal. But, if you’re not comfortable working in the Linux terminal, take heart in the fact that remind has a GUI front-end application to help you create your calendar events and generate your calendars outside of the terminal which can even be printed. The GUI front-end app for remind is called tkRemind. This is installed in the terminal as well, and then you can create a desktop launcher for tkremind so you only have to double-click on the icon representing the app to launch it.

 

How I use remind(1)  Tim Chase  2020-02-16

 

This is a fabulous source of information on how to use REMIND, including gems like,

 

Quote

Labels

Because I have a file for each type of reminder, I find it handy to prefix each item with its filename using the special msgprefix(x) function (which I also use for colorizing agenda reminders

 

Quote

Color

As a rule, I generally want plain-text reminders, whether emailing them to myself or displaying a calendar with rem -c. But when at the command-line, I like a bit of color.

 

Quote

Speech

The readable nature of the output makes it easy to pipe output to a program like espeak (or another text-to-speech engine which you would also have to install) to read your reminders aloud. You might create a custom spoken.rem file that you don't INCLUDE in your regular reminders.rem in which you remove the BANNER, emit section dividers (if you don't choose to use display labels), and INCLUDE a select subset of calendars:

 

I am not a terminal ninja so I use TkRemind and have done so for quite a while,

 

TIP - How to get a dock icon for tkremind in Window Maker

 

Naturally I use it with my Window Maker set up

 

At present I am trying to figure out how to get  TkRemind to show the phases of the moon and information like "Earth Seasons" in the gui when it opens,

 

https://dianne.skoll.ca/wiki/Earth_Seasons

 

 

If anyone can help me solve my problem It would be gratefully accepted.

 

Found the solution in the man pages, guess I should have RTFM

 

https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/trusty/man1/remind.1.html

 

Quote

       The MOON special replaces the psmoon() function.  Use it like this:
            REM [moondate(0)] SPECIAL MOON 0
            REM [moondate(1)] SPECIAL MOON 1
            REM [moondate(2)] SPECIAL MOON 2
            REM [moondate(3)] SPECIAL MOON 3
       These draw little moons on the various calendars.  The complete syntax of the MOON special
       is as follows:
            ... SPECIAL MOON phase moonsize fontsize msg

       Phase  is  a  number from 0 to 3, with 0 representing a new moon, 1 the first quarter, 2 a
       full moon and 3 the last quarter.

       moonsize is the diameter in PostScript units of the moon to draw.  If omitted or  supplied
       as -1, the backend chooses an appropriate size.

       fontsize is the font size in PostScript units of the msg

       Msg is additional text that is placed near the moon glyph.

       Note  that  only the Rem2PS backend supports moonsize and fontsize; the other backends use
       fixed sizes.

 

Remind can add information from other calendars and other .ics files but you have to change the file format see this post for further information.

 

Import and convert calendar and .ics files to remind/tkremind  -Quite a useful read-2024-follow this link

 

Remind and TkRemind are super programs and very useful and they work brilliantly with Window Maker

Edited March 15 by abarbarian

[securitybreach]

Neat

[abarbarian]

On 3/11/2022 at 1:53 PM, abarbarian said:

At present I am trying to figure out how to get  TkRemind to show the phases of the moon and information like "Earth Seasons" in the gui when it opens,

 

https://dianne.skoll.ca/wiki/Earth_Seasons

 

If anyone can help me solve my problem It would be gratefully accepted.

 

Remind and TkRemind are super programs and very useful and they work brilliantly with Window Maker

 

 

Well I have not managed to figure out a way to add the Earth Seasons to Tk-remind yet despite hours of trawling through the net. there is a lot of good information out there but it all seems to have important (for a non-geek like me) missing pieces.

I have managed to colourise some of my appointments though so above is my first try , it is still a work in progress though.

 

The Window Maker theme is called Black Cat, not sure if it is one I made or found on the net.

[abarbarian]

MPV-USER SCRIPTS

 

In addition to the lua scripts I use with mpv as mentioned in this post,

 

https://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?/topic/96543-gnulinux-software-hall-of-fame/&do=findComment&comment=475402

 

I have installed,

 

auto-save-state.lua  does what it says on the tin.

 

boss-key.lua  I made a slight change to the actual script as I could not figure out how to do it the way the developer suggested.

Quote

changed the script by altering,

mp.add_key_binding('b', 'boss-key', boss_key)

to

mp.add_key_binding('script', 'boss-key', boss_key)

Works on WM and minimises mpv.  Once minimised then if your mouse is in the folder window the video will start again in a paused state. This only works on the original folder window if it has been left open. Once you close and open the folder window again you have to start the video normally.

 

No need for me to have this clipshot.lua  script on my Arch+Window Maker set up as mpv has an inbuilt screenshot facility. (see below posts for details) Apparently the inbuilt screenshot may not work on all distros so the lua script may be useful to some folks.

 

clipshot.lua  I made a slight change to the actual script.

 

Quote

changed the script by altering,

mp.add_key_binding('c',     'clipshot-subs',   clipshot('subtitles'))
mp.add_key_binding('C',     'clipshot-video',  clipshot('video'))
mp.add_key_binding('Alt+c', 'clipshot-window', clipshot('window'))

to

mp.add_key_binding('c',     'clipshot-subs',   clipshot('subtitles'))
mp.add_key_binding('s',     'clipshot-video',  clipshot('video'))
mp.add_key_binding('Alt+c', 'clipshot-window', clipshot('window'))

 

There is one thing wrong with clipshot.lua in that it takes the screenshot to the clipboard and stores the screen shot in " /tmp " which is a real pain.  The only way I can with my limited knowledge use the shot is by going to /tmp as I do not know how to get the shot from my clipboard.

 

I tried altering the script several times and did manage to get the script to place the screen shot in my /screenshots/ folder but  I can not recreate what I did. Here is the section I altered,

 

Quote

else -- Unix

SHOT = '/tmp/'..NAME

-- os.getenv('OSTYPE') doesn't work

local ostype = io.popen('printf "$OSTYPE"', 'r'read()

 

and this is the sort of alteration I tried,

 

Quote

SHOT = '/home/bloodaxe/Screenshots/'...NAME

 

It was some variant of the above. I tried out loads of ways but could not find the one that worked which is frustrating as I know what I want can be done but it just eludes me at the moment. If anyone has a solution to this problem please do post it.

 

All the above work well and make using mpv much nicer, at least for me.

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by abarbarian

[sunrat]

MPV has native screenshot capability. Just press "S" and it saves a screenshot in your home directory.

To display album cover when playing music, add this to ~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf

external-file=cover.png
vid=1

This works as I make a cover.png for every album.

Alternatively the man page says:
 

Quote

 

--audio-display=<no|attachment>

Setting this option to attachment (default) will display image attachments (e.g. album cover art) when playing audio files. It will display the first image found, and additional images are available as video tracks.

 

I don't use that as sometimes the first image found is not the cover.

 

I also have MPRIS plugins for MPV and Deadbeef which enable some remote features like play/pause in the panel thumbnail in KDE Plasma.

[abarbarian]

3 hours ago, sunrat said:

MPV has native screenshot capability. Just press "S" and it saves a screenshot in your home directory.

wow you sure are a mpv ninja.

 

I added this to my mpv.conf,

 

Quote

screenshot-directory=/home/bloodaxe/Screenshots/mpvScreens/

 

Now if I press " S " I get a screenshot without subs and " s " a screenshot with subs if they are showing on screen when the shot was taken. They are saved to my screenshots folder instead of littering the home folder.

Edited August 27, 2022 by abarbarian

[securitybreach]

I love MPV and have been using it for many years now.

[sunrat]

10 hours ago, abarbarian said:

wow you sure are a mpv ninja.

 

Hardly. You must be a ninja to work out how to change the default screenshot directory!

[abarbarian]

On 8/28/2022 at 1:00 AM, sunrat said:

 

Hardly. You must be a ninja to work out how to change the default screenshot directory!

 

Not really. I use the,

 

" Give a monkey a typewriter and he will produce a classic novel "

 

approach.

 

 

[abarbarian]

Stellarium is an open source planetarium that enables you to explore the night sky right on your own computer. Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.

 

https://stellarium.org/

 

This is an excellent program and I have installed it on every pc I have built. I came across this very excellent article giving impressive detail on all the features and how to use them. The article is based on the web version but the information is relevant to the installed version too.

 

Stargaze from the web browser with an open source planetarium

 

Quote

Stellarium is a free, open source planetarium software for every OS. It's an amazing 3D simulation of the night sky that lets you explore and observe stars, constellations, planets, and other celestial objects. What's really cool about it is that it has a comprehensive database of stars, nebulae, galaxies, and so much more. Also, the software allows you to view the sky from any location on Earth at any time in the past or future, so you can look at a future night sky your descendants may see. Stellarium also includes advanced features such as telescopic controls and the ability to track the motion of celestial objects. Amateur astronomers and educators use Stellarium to explore the sky, and it is considered one of the best planetarium programs available.

 

 

[securitybreach]

1 hour ago, abarbarian said:

Stellarium is an open source planetarium that enables you to explore the night sky right on your own computer. Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.

 

https://stellarium.org/

 

This is an excellent program and I have installed it on every pc I have built. I came across this very excellent article giving impressive detail on all the features and how to use them. The article is based on the web version but the information is relevant to the installed version too.

 

Stargaze from the web browser with an open source planetarium

 

 

 

 

Pretty cool that it still hits the news after 22 years of development. I didn't know that they added the night mode though.  BTW it isn't exactly the easiest application to use but it is very cool and neat if you are into this type of thing.

 

Also, it seems like there is now a mobile version:

 

Quote

Stellarium Mobile is a fork of Stellarium, developed by some of the Stellarium team members. It currently targets mobile devices running Symbian, Maemo, Android, and iOS. Some of the mobile optimisations have been integrated into the mainline Stellarium product."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellarium_(software)#Stellarium_Mobile

[securitybreach]

Mobile shot of Stellarium

 

 

 

 

[abarbarian]

5 hours ago, securitybreach said:

BTW it isn't exactly the easiest application to use

 

Yup, that is why I posted about the article as it is quite a good starter guide to the program. I t looks great on a 42" tv.

[abarbarian]

https://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?/topic/96543-gnulinux-software-hall-of-fame/&do=findComment&comment=475151

 

An update on the get-iplayer program mentioned above.

 

I have only used the program to download radio from the BBC. Here are a few ways to use the program.

 

get-iplayer creates a folder in your home so if you want the downloads to appear there do this.

 

Quote

/home/yourusername/.get_iplayer     cd into this to download to it.

 

Always convert every radio programme to MP3 format at 320k constant bit rate (CBR) and automatically delete M4A file by setting --command-radio in preferences:   

 

You can choose any bit rate you want.

 

Add this to "/home/yourusername/.get_iplayer /options" text file.

 

Quote

get_iplayer --prefs-add --command-radio='ffmpeg -i "<filename>" -c:v copy -c:a libmp3lame -b:a 320k -y "<dir>/<fileprefix>.mp3" && rm "<filename>"'

 

get_iplayer can use brand/series PIDs to recursively download all episodes in the brand or series. Recursive recording of a brand/series will first print a list of the enclosed episodes then download them all.

 

get_iplayer --pid=b0b0s228  --pid-recursive

 

 If you want to record specific episodes and not the entire brand/series, use --pid-recursive-list to print the list of available episodes without attempting download:

 

get_iplayer --pid=b0b0s228 --pid-recursive-list

 

To get the pid you need to go to the page with ALL from the program site

 

Quote

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b0s228/episodes/guide

 

The site mentioned above is for " Curious Under The Stars"

 

Quote

The first of a new series set in Glan Don, a wild and mysterious village perched on the Welsh coast.

When Gareth finds his wife Diane in bed with a stranger, the couple attempt to salvage their marriage by uprooting from London to run a pub in West Wales. But The Druid's Rest has seen better days - the wallpaper is peeling, there's something growing out of the pool table and a mysterious man called Emlyn is living in the customer toilets.

Starring Elis James (Crims), Louise Ford (Chickens) and Ifan Huw Dafydd (Gavin and Stacey), Curious Under the Stars takes us deep into a Welsh landscape of myth, magic and mayhem.

Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.

 

There are ten series with different numbers of episodes and it would take a long time to download each of the 48 episodes individually. Using this will download all episodes.

 

get_iplayer --pid=b0b0s228  --pid-recursive

 

The output file name can be pretty long and you can change what you get. I used this,

 

get_iplayer --pid=b0b0s228 --pid-recursive --file-prefix="<nameshort><-senum>"
  
Episodes:
Curious Under the Stars: Series 1 - Gone West, BBC Radio 4, b061017r
Curious Under the Stars: Series 1 - Llewelyn's Chair, BBC Radio 4, b061t43g
Curious Under the Stars: Series 1 - Gathering Storm, BBC Radio 4, b062kx4b

 

to get this file name,

 

Quote

Curious_Under_the_Stars-s01e01.mp3

 

Some examples of file name changes,

 

Quote

get_iplayer --force --pid=b00k89mm --file-prefix="<name><-senum><-episodes>"

gives

Falco_Venus_in_Copper-s01e02-The_Unexpected_Offer.mp3

 

get_iplayer --force --pid=b00k89mm  --file-prefix="<nameshort><-senum><-episodes>"

gives

Falco-s01e02-The_Unexpected_Offer.mp3

 

get_iplayer --type=radio --pid=b00k89mm --file-prefix="<nameshort><-senum>"

gives

Falco-s01e02.mp3

 

get_iplayer --type=radio --pid=b00k89mm --file-prefix="<senum>"  notice that " - " is not included in the "<senum>"

gives

01e02.mp3

 

Happy listening folks.

[sunrat]

Why do you convert .m4a to .mp3? Converting a lossy format to another lossy format is bad m'kay. Quality is lost with such conversion.

[abarbarian]

4 hours ago, sunrat said:

Why do you convert .m4a to .mp3? Converting a lossy format to another lossy format is bad m'kay. Quality is lost with such conversion.

 

I downloaded loads of radio dramas to listen to in the car and the car would not accept .m4a's. I could have done the conversion at 192/128 but as I have storage room to spare I went with the 320. Not that my tinnitus ringing ears can really tell the difference.

 

Besides it is speech I am listening to so quality is not as important as for music appreciation.

Edited July 8, 2023 by abarbarian

[securitybreach]

I do not listen to radio but that is neat stuff

[abarbarian]

2 hours ago, securitybreach said:

I do not listen to radio but that is neat stuff

 

Both of these are real scams/crimes that are more like film plots than real life.

 

https://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?/topic/96614-the-missing-crypto-queen/

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvg9?page=2

 

I listen whilst driving on my own or do a episode whilst having breakfast.

[securitybreach]

1 hour ago, abarbarian said:

 

Both of these are real scams/crimes that are more like film plots than real life.

 

https://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?/topic/96614-the-missing-crypto-queen/

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvg9?page=2

 

I listen whilst driving on my own or do a episode whilst having breakfast.

 

I mostly listen to audiobooks or music but Ill check it out.